note: this is a cross post. I did post the same in the Optimal Play Settings for Games forum). Please don't flame me. I'm desperate.

Yes, I'm way outdated. Just bought and installed Doom3 at home. 3 different PCs. USing tweaks, I got 2 PCs with ATI Radeon cards to run great.
My fastest PC is the problem.
Symptom: I get about 40 FPS running for a short while (10-20 seconds), then suddenly FPS drops to like 2-3 for another 10 seconds. Then, something recovers and I get another 10-20 seconds at 40 FPS. This cycle continues. It occurs even if I start the game and don't move. Using com_showfps 1, I can just sit still and the FPS will do this: 40FPS for a while, then drop to 2-3 FPS for a while, then back up to 40 for a while, etc.

I have searched endlessly on the web in dozens of forums. No real luck. I know this box can handle this old game. I built this PC about 2 years ago with reasonable hardware. The game is like 6 years old, right?

note: this is a cross post. I did post the same in the Optimal Play Settings for Games forum). Please don't flame me. I'm desperate.

Yes, I'm way outdated. Just bought and installed Doom3 at home. 3 different PCs. USing tweaks, I got 2 PCs with ATI Radeon cards to run great.

My fastest PC is the problem.

Symptom: I get about 40 FPS running for a short while (10-20 seconds), then suddenly FPS drops to like 2-3 for another 10 seconds. Then, something recovers and I get another 10-20 seconds at 40 FPS. This cycle continues. It occurs even if I start the game and don't move. Using com_showfps 1, I can just sit still and the FPS will do this: 40FPS for a while, then drop to 2-3 FPS for a while, then back up to 40 for a while, etc.

I have searched endlessly on the web in dozens of forums. No real luck. I know this box can handle this old game. I built this PC about 2 years ago with reasonable hardware. The game is like 6 years old, right?

My current setup:

Windows XP SP3 based PC:

ASUS A7N8X-E motherboard

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ 3.01Ghz proc

Integrated Nvidia GeForce 6150se nForce 430 graphics

2GB DDR RAM

10K RPM Cheeta HD

note: dxdiag tells me I've got 512MB video ram. Is that right?

Nvidia:

I pulled down the latest drivers and utility software

Driver version: 6.14.12.9610 (02/29/2012)

Nvidia Control Panel:

Settings with Preview set to Use my preference emphasizing: PERFORMANCE

Manage 3D settings (global)

Anisotropic filtering: OFF

Antialiasing - Setting: NONE

Extension Limit: OFF

Max pre-rendered frames: 8

Multi-display: SINGLE DISPLAY PERFORMANCE

Texture filtering - Anasotropic: ON

Texture filtering - Negative LOD bias: Allow

Texture filtering - Quality: PERFORMANCE

Threaded optimization: AUTO

Triple buffering: OFF

Vertical sync: FORCE OFF

Doom3:

Patched to 1.3.1

System Options:

Low Quality 640 x 480

All Advanced Options set to NO or OFF

I have tried a huge plethora of settings geared toward performance, even giving up huge visual quality, using info from the plethora of tweak guides available on the web. All to no avail.

There MUST be someone out there who knows how to make this well performing PC run Doom3 in a playable form.

What settings are you running? I remember back when I was running a AMD 3400+ single core processor (Socket 754) & a 6800GT, and that had issues running the game on High, I can only imagine how badly it'd run on a 6150SE.

If you can list: Settings & Resolution please. I'll try to help out, but I haven't run this game in a while. X_X

The stuttering may be a combination of running out of vRAM (which the 6150SE has almost none of) & system lag.

I know there was a driver set or two that actually made Doom3 run like butt, and this was a while ago. I would wager that drivers as new as the ones you're running (296.10s) are far from geared towards a title as ancient as Doom3. The first thing I'd recommend doing is trying older drivers, but also, install MSI Afterburner & I have it display vRAM usage in game. See if you can figure out if it's maxing out, as that would cause the stuttering/FPS drops/lag you're describing, especially on a card that weak.

What settings are you running? I remember back when I was running a AMD 3400+ single core processor (Socket 754) & a 6800GT, and that had issues running the game on High, I can only imagine how badly it'd run on a 6150SE.

If you can list: Settings & Resolution please. I'll try to help out, but I haven't run this game in a while. X_X

The stuttering may be a combination of running out of vRAM (which the 6150SE has almost none of) & system lag.

I know there was a driver set or two that actually made Doom3 run like butt, and this was a while ago. I would wager that drivers as new as the ones you're running (296.10s) are far from geared towards a title as ancient as Doom3. The first thing I'd recommend doing is trying older drivers, but also, install MSI Afterburner & I have it display vRAM usage in game. See if you can figure out if it's maxing out, as that would cause the stuttering/FPS drops/lag you're describing, especially on a card that weak.

I gave up on this video card and installed a cheap ATI HD 2400 I got off eBay for 10 bucks. This card has 256MB DDR2 vram.
Oddly, I still have the EXACT SAME PROBLEM. There's got to be some odd-ball problem with this box, because there's no way that an old game like doom3 shouldn't play. I'm gonna go back to the GeForce graphics onboard and work with this MSI Afterburner you mentioned.

I gave up on this video card and installed a cheap ATI HD 2400 I got off eBay for 10 bucks. This card has 256MB DDR2 vram.

Oddly, I still have the EXACT SAME PROBLEM. There's got to be some odd-ball problem with this box, because there's no way that an old game like doom3 shouldn't play. I'm gonna go back to the GeForce graphics onboard and work with this MSI Afterburner you mentioned.

Best thing for you to do would be to fork out $50-$100 and get you a decent card. Any card in that price range will likely run Doom3 a LOT better than your onboard.

I'm assuming your slot is AGP based on your motherboard statement: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161318 $75, should run it on WAY better settings or: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161337 should be able to run it darn near maxed out at a good resolution.

I'm beginning to think you are right. Check that - I'm convinced you're right. I've found a GeForce 7900GTX card for 30 bucks on eBay. It's on it's way. I'll go with that.

Actually, the MB I listed is incorrect. The PC has an ASUS M2N-MX SE motherboard, with a PCI-e slot for video. I'm hoping this old-but-good GeForce card with 512MB vram will make the magic happen. Any tricks I need to know with this card?

I'm beginning to think you are right. Check that - I'm convinced you're right. I've found a GeForce 7900GTX card for 30 bucks on eBay. It's on it's way. I'll go with that.

Actually, the MB I listed is incorrect. The PC has an ASUS M2N-MX SE motherboard, with a PCI-e slot for video. I'm hoping this old-but-good GeForce card with 512MB vram will make the magic happen. Any tricks I need to know with this card?

OMG - I'm gonna scream! I have installed a GeForce 7900 GTX card into this PC (PCIe x16 slot) with the supplimental power connection. The thing has 512MB DDR VRAM on board. I've installed the latest NVidia drivers and Control Panel software. The PC runs great.

But - DOOM3 DEMONSTRATES THE SAME PROBLEM that I initially had with the onboard 6150se video. What the heck is going on???
I've tried cranking down the NVidia 3D settings all for performance, making all programs use the global settings. I've tried setting DOOM3 to lowest resolution and settings, turning off all advanced options. Doesn't matter. I have the same results in Ultra Quality in Doom as I do in Low Quality.

I am just at my wits end here.

When I installed the GeForce 7900 GTX, I made sure to remove ALL other video drivers and software first.
I went thru the NVidia display optimization wizard and sync'd my monitor with the card.
I also deleted the DoomConfig.cfg file from the Doom3\base directory. I then ran Doom and requested Doom select my video settings based on the hardware. It selected Ultra mode with all advanced options on (except Vertical Sync).

Same deal. Game starts with 60+ FPS, then before I get up the steps, FPS drops to like 2 until I get through the first doors and have to wait while I go thru some body scan. Then, I get about 10-15 seconds of play at 60+ FPS and it drops to 2 FPS again.

OMG - I'm gonna scream! I have installed a GeForce 7900 GTX card into this PC (PCIe x16 slot) with the supplimental power connection. The thing has 512MB DDR VRAM on board. I've installed the latest NVidia drivers and Control Panel software. The PC runs great.

But - DOOM3 DEMONSTRATES THE SAME PROBLEM that I initially had with the onboard 6150se video. What the heck is going on???

I've tried cranking down the NVidia 3D settings all for performance, making all programs use the global settings. I've tried setting DOOM3 to lowest resolution and settings, turning off all advanced options. Doesn't matter. I have the same results in Ultra Quality in Doom as I do in Low Quality.

I am just at my wits end here.

When I installed the GeForce 7900 GTX, I made sure to remove ALL other video drivers and software first.

I went thru the NVidia display optimization wizard and sync'd my monitor with the card.

I also deleted the DoomConfig.cfg file from the Doom3\base directory. I then ran Doom and requested Doom select my video settings based on the hardware. It selected Ultra mode with all advanced options on (except Vertical Sync).

Same deal. Game starts with 60+ FPS, then before I get up the steps, FPS drops to like 2 until I get through the first doors and have to wait while I go thru some body scan. Then, I get about 10-15 seconds of play at 60+ FPS and it drops to 2 FPS again.

I installed MSI Afterburner (as well as MSI Kombustor). I'm not 100% sure of what I'm doing with that. I ran the Kombustoer for a half hour - fully stable, no problems. The furry word moved around pretty smoothly.
I ran Afterburner and left it running while I ran the game. I ran Doom3 for about 3 minutes, observed my problem toggling between 60+ FPS to 2 FPS several times. Then I quit Doom3. Looking at Afterburner's monitoring window, the bottom metric is memory usage. Prior to running the game, it was flat 0. During running Doom3, it shot up to 180MB and slowly creeped up to 200MB. That's when I quit the game. There were no spikes in memory usage reported by Afterburner. Am I looking at the right thing?

I installed MSI Afterburner (as well as MSI Kombustor). I'm not 100% sure of what I'm doing with that. I ran the Kombustoer for a half hour - fully stable, no problems. The furry word moved around pretty smoothly.

I ran Afterburner and left it running while I ran the game. I ran Doom3 for about 3 minutes, observed my problem toggling between 60+ FPS to 2 FPS several times. Then I quit Doom3. Looking at Afterburner's monitoring window, the bottom metric is memory usage. Prior to running the game, it was flat 0. During running Doom3, it shot up to 180MB and slowly creeped up to 200MB. That's when I quit the game. There were no spikes in memory usage reported by Afterburner. Am I looking at the right thing?

Is it possible that you have a similar problem with Doom3 as i have with the DeltaForce Series?
Are there any effects like smoke, rain or fire on the screen when the FPS drops down?
Something definitely changed to the drivers long ago and this was never fixed.

Link to the DeltaForce-problem Thread: http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=227182

I have mad many other things ive tried, like, running FRAPS while playing USED to get it running at 60fps constant, and in doom 3 properties,Compatibility:run in compatibility- windows xp service pack 2, run in 256 colors, disable visual themes, and disable desktop composition and lastly run as admin. Ive been working on this for a LONG time, game is running with all of the above set,(Except FRAPS) at 63fps in MENUS dropping to 14 here and there, but the game is still slow. Any help would be appreciated.

hey, i'm having the same problem, BUT i found something that helped.(a little)In the manage 3d settings for nvidia control panel, i put changed:

maximum pre-rendered frames-1

multidisplay thingamabobber- single display

texture filtering anisotropic sample-on

texture filtering quality-High preformance

texture filtering trilinear optimization-on

threaded optimization-Nvidia recommended

and Vsync-force off.

I have mad many other things ive tried, like, running FRAPS while playing USED to get it running at 60fps constant, and in doom 3 properties,Compatibility:run in compatibility- windows xp service pack 2, run in 256 colors, disable visual themes, and disable desktop composition and lastly run as admin. Ive been working on this for a LONG time, game is running with all of the above set,(Except FRAPS) at 63fps in MENUS dropping to 14 here and there, but the game is still slow. Any help would be appreciated.

Hi FullThr0ttl3. Man, I feel your pain. I'm going to try a suggestion that Honey Badger made - using old drivers. I have yet to figure out where to get these drivers, and yet to get details on how to install properly. I am running win-XP SP3. I've tried most of your suggestions, but not in that combination. I will try tonight. If NFG, I'm going to try old drivers. I'll post my results. If still NFG, I'll probably totally wipe the box clean, reload WinXP SP3 and install Doom3 alone - just to be sure I don't have some other stupid piece of software that's messing with the box.

I'll post results. Stay tuned.

...in the meantime, if anyone else has any other suggestions - please, PLEASE HELP!

Hi FullThr0ttl3. Man, I feel your pain. I'm going to try a suggestion that Honey Badger made - using old drivers. I have yet to figure out where to get these drivers, and yet to get details on how to install properly. I am running win-XP SP3. I've tried most of your suggestions, but not in that combination. I will try tonight. If NFG, I'm going to try old drivers. I'll post my results. If still NFG, I'll probably totally wipe the box clean, reload WinXP SP3 and install Doom3 alone - just to be sure I don't have some other stupid piece of software that's messing with the box.

I'll post results. Stay tuned.

...in the meantime, if anyone else has any other suggestions - please, PLEASE HELP!

[i]The majority of dated drivers can be located via the archives at GURU3d's download section. [url="http://downloads.guru3d.com/"]Located here.[/url] You can browse by operating system version for compatibility, and release dates and notes follow the provided links. [/i] /thumbup.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':thumbup:' />

The majority of dated drivers can be located via the archives at GURU3d's download section. Located here. You can browse by operating system version for compatibility, and release dates and notes follow the provided links. /thumbup.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':thumbup:' />

-Hooks

Attachments

QUOTE (The Professor @ Oct 31 2010, 04:59 AM)

*Jeremy Clarkson face*

So we must hand it over to our tame PC tweaker. Some say he sticky tapes a block of uranium to his dinner before eating it and that he sucks moisture out of ducks. All we know is, he's called Hooks.

I have mad many other things ive tried, like, running FRAPS while playing USED to get it running at 60fps constant, and in doom 3 properties,Compatibility:run in compatibility- windows xp service pack 2, run in 256 colors, disable visual themes, and disable desktop composition and lastly run as admin. Ive been working on this for a LONG time, game is running with all of the above set,(Except FRAPS) at 63fps in MENUS dropping to 14 here and there, but the game is still slow. Any help would be appreciated.
[/quote]

I tried almost all of these suggested changes. I didn't whack the windows themes or run doon in 256 color or compatibility mode. Not worth it to me. Anyway, no joy. I'm on to try to install older drivers. Thanks to Righthooks for the link to find old drivers. Reading some posts, it looks like I am going to start with the 182.50 version. I'm currently using the 296.10 from the Nvidia web site. Will let you know how it goes.

hey, i'm having the same problem, BUT i found something that helped.(a little)In the manage 3d settings for nvidia control panel, i put changed:

maximum pre-rendered frames-1

multidisplay thingamabobber- single display

texture filtering anisotropic sample-on

texture filtering quality-High preformance

texture filtering trilinear optimization-on

threaded optimization-Nvidia recommended

and Vsync-force off.

I have mad many other things ive tried, like, running FRAPS while playing USED to get it running at 60fps constant, and in doom 3 properties,Compatibility:run in compatibility- windows xp service pack 2, run in 256 colors, disable visual themes, and disable desktop composition and lastly run as admin. Ive been working on this for a LONG time, game is running with all of the above set,(Except FRAPS) at 63fps in MENUS dropping to 14 here and there, but the game is still slow. Any help would be appreciated.

I tried almost all of these suggested changes. I didn't whack the windows themes or run doon in 256 color or compatibility mode. Not worth it to me. Anyway, no joy. I'm on to try to install older drivers. Thanks to Righthooks for the link to find old drivers. Reading some posts, it looks like I am going to start with the 182.50 version. I'm currently using the 296.10 from the Nvidia web site. Will let you know how it goes.

I downloaded the 182.50 version of the GeForce drivers from www.guru3d.com.
I uninstalled the 296.10 drivers and all nvidia graphics software.
Rebooted twice.
I installed the 182.50 driver software.
Rebooted 3 times as part of the install, and one for good measure.
I removed the DoomConfig.cfg from the Doom3\base folder.
I ran Doom3, asked doom to select the video settings, and ran the application.

OMG - SAME FREAKIN' PROBLEM!!!

I ran through all my tweaks to both the video driver and to doom, including using all the lowest video graphics settings.

SAME PROBLEM!!!

Is the 182.50 driver not the right version to be using?

Unless I hear from someone with another suggestion, I'm wiping this machine clean and reloading Windows from scratch and starting this whole mess over again.

PLEASE PLEASE, HELP!

It's my son's PC, and I do so much want to have this working for him. :-(

hey, i noticed my doom 3 DOESNT have an FPS cap of 60. It doesnt have one at all. I went into the Config file, and couldnt enable one, thinking that that might be related, any ideas?

PS
com_fixedTic 0
is suppose to enable the cap, it wont work.
i still go to 63 fps then to 12-14 back to 60 then 63 then again, and again. If i can stop it going to 63 it might not bolt back down, but that's only a theory.